Chemotherapy and information-seeking behaviour: characteristics of patients using mass-media information sources.

Objective: Fulfilling patients' information needs can help them cope with illness and improve their well-being. Little research has been conducted on the characteristics of patients using different information sources. This study aims to get insight into which information sources patients receiving chemotherapy for the first time use and which factors (background characteristics, psychological factors, information needs and source reliability) explain the use of different mass-media information sources.